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Movie night with the Oleanders tonight! Brownie points if you can guess the movie. 🙂

I couldn’t wait any longer, so our autumn grass came a day early to Bluebonnet. As much as I think beaches are nice, I just wasn’t feeling the whole summer beachy vibe this year. Even doing a “Martha’s Vineyard” style beach this year wasn’t what I wanted really. I’m so much happier with the grass, especially the darker grasses we use for the autumn. Once our new house is prepared, I can really get to work on the parcel and see how well my ideas work with my skill level.

Maybe one of you will know the answer to this, as I’m still pretty uneducated about the whole pathfinding thingy in Second Life. I’ve chosen to turn it off for now on the island, simply because I don’t really know WHAT it does and because I don’t really think that we need it. But whenever I terraform, it starts to tell me that I need to rebake the region. What exactly is rebaking doing? And why do I need to do it when I terraform? It’s not the same thing as saving the terrain file, I know that much. I wish someone would just put out a very easy to understand page on the whole pathfinding thing.

Lexi has been in Second Life since 2004, as you can see. Although she’d added her partner’s last name to her display name, if you look her up in search, she is still Lexi Morgan. There might be 10,000 other Lexis out there, but as far as Second Life is concerned, she has always been the only Lexi Morgan. At least…she was.

This is Lexi Morgan #2. Her username is beth36. If you don’t have display names turned on in your viewer [a lot of us do not], she looks like beth36. But she’s walking around with Lexi Morgan proudly as her display name. Even worse, when you go to look for Lexi Morgan in search…

When display names were first introduced, MANY people were upset. The content creators – you know, the people who make us look good and generally pay a lot in fees every month for sims and marketplace and uploads? – were especially worried. What would keep someone from using their name? Would that be possible? WHY would it be possible? But they were assured that no, that wouldn’t happen. Linden Lab would help protect them, protect all of us with legacy names.

Turns out? Not so much.

When Lexi was notified by someone that another account was using her name [she’d gone to search for Lexi and that is what popped up], Lexi was, rightfully, very upset. She filed an abuse report, and this morning she contacted Linden Lab. After all, they had promised this sort of thing would not happen, and unlike in the real world where several people could have your name, it was always a bonus in SL that our names were OURS. So she did what any of us would have done and called Linden Lab. And that’s where things really went wrong.

Lexi spoke with someone at Linden Lab who told her – get ready for this – to just keep filing abuse reports until it was fixed.

Wait. What?

Now she has to take time out of her day to just keep filing abuse reports, when one has already been filed, when it would be easier for the person she spoke with to fix it right then and there? Where is the protection that was promised when Linden Lab decided to charge ahead with the ridiculous AOL-esque usernames and display names? [Don’t get me started on what I think about the username thing. But you can vote in this JIRA if you feel the way I do.] Shouldn’t there be some kind of customer service for someone who has been using a service for over 7 years? Just keep filing abuse reports? That’s IT?

When Lexi told the person at Linden Lab that she was under the impression this sort of thing was never to happen, the person replied, “Yeah, I can see how that would cause a problem for you.” Lexi also asked what would happen if this account never logged in again, and was told “You should AR separately with those concerns and be as specific as possible.” Because calling and telling them isn’t specific or good enough?

Nice customer service, Linden Lab.

So now the real Lexi Morgan has to waste her time filing abuse reports and hoping that her customers read far enough to contact her and not Beth36 if they need customer service. Beth36 can wander around happily with a name that is not hers over her head. And Linden Lab proved, once again, that they truly do not always listen to their customers.

Edit 8/26/2011: Lexi confirmed yesterday that after approximately 25 Abuse Reports, phone calls, etc, that the name was finally changed. Beth36 is now Beth Morgan. Oh, and she’s no longer an out of work exotic dancer, just in case you were worried about that. :-p

Plurk is really fun for me because that’s basically where I hear all the latest going on in SL. Earlier today Rai Blaylock showed us a Christmas tree on XStreet. A $40,000L Christmas tree. Nope, I did not add in extra zeros. $40,000L. $170 USD.

Being curious, I ran out to the store at Sculptie Wonder island to check out this tree. I mean, for $40,000L, it should be a wonderous thing, right? Or maybe – MAYBE – the designer was just drunk when posting that ad on XStreet and the real price of the tree is $400L.

The tree itself? Well, it’s nice.

It’s big, it’s pretty. There are some nice presents underneath. Even the ornaments have a “reflection” of the candles that isn’t half bad.

But is it $40,000L worth of pretty? Not by a long shot. The edges of the “skirts” of pine needles [for lack of a better term] are not completely good, and by the time you get to the top of the tree, it’s like the creator lost interest and it’s basically just a cone. Certainly this is not $40,000L. It couldn’t be.

Oh wait. It is. And it’s 494 prims!

This is one of those times where I want to IM the designer and ask, “Well honey, do you want to sell it or do you just want to stare at it?”

I’m all for designers charging what they feel is right for their products. I have friends who ask me what I think they should charge because they’re unsure. If you go too high for something, there’s the chance people will not buy it because they don’t think it’s worth it. Going too low can sometimes make other shoppers think maybe it’s not quality work. But there is a mid-range point that seems to work, and I think designers owe it to themselves to head out to other stores to check out prices on similar items. If you’re making something no one else has ever done before in SL [and good luck with that], then sure. You get to set the standard. A Christmas tree? C’mon. Get real.

Will I be getting this tree? Uh…no. But, if I don’t end up getting banned from there for writing this post, I might go out and enjoy it sometimes. 🙂

So of course the whole big hoopla this weekend is Hair Fair 2009. Hey, I get it. I like new hair too, and sometimes the gifts out there are pretty decent. But what ended up happening this year is that some bloggers got butthurt over not being invited to a preview day.

Wow. Really? I mean, REALLY?

From what I’ve heard, this wasn’t even a blogger/media preview day. It was a day for the designers and their guests and the winners of some contest. Did some of the guests happen to be bloggers? Sure. We all have designer friends, show me someone in SL who doesn’t. And I can understand feeling left out when you’re in a group of fashion bloggers and everyone got in but you. But every other blogger – even the non-fashion ones! – getting all upset because they didn’t get in first? Give me a break.

First of all, if you’re a non-fashion blogger, just be quiet. You had no right to expect to get in on any kind of preview day. Maaaaybe if you write some kind of super current events blog, or a blog specifically for charity events in SL, MAYBE. But other than that, shush.

And as for fashion bloggers, well holy cow, the sims only hold so many people. You probably would have just been crying for lag anyway when the 500 fashion bloggers out there descended upon the place.

I am lucky to get “press passes” for different events once or twice a month. The phrase “press pass” cracks me up when I get it because I don’t consider myself press. I’m just a girl with a blog. [Well, two blogs now that I moved my reviews over here. Three, if you count WTFug. Holy cow, I write a lot.] I’ve yet to really go to any of these events. The lag, the bitching, the bumping into people – it’s kind of part of the fun of these expos and fairs. And it gives me an excuse for not spending too much. 😉 I DO like getting unreleased stuff first, but heck, who doesn’t? But as far as crying because I DIDN’T get it first? Yeah, you know… LOL

Look, this isn’t elementary school. You’re not going to always get a Valentine from each kid in the class and you’re not always going to get invited to every party. You’re just NOT. Why let it get you down? Just have fun and go later. You’re not OWED anything. Besides, you know these things – fairs, expos, hunts – are always all chaotic and not fully set up the first day anyway. Save yourself the headache and just go later.

Ok, so, we’re less than 24 hours into the Bunny Hop and someone mentioned that #206 on the list, Coull Creations, didn’t just have decoy eggs out, [A practice used by some designers to throw off the object scanners/hunt HUDs, which is really kind of a jerk move, but whatever], they had decoy eggs out that cost $25L. For just the egg! Nothing inside!! Man, it’s like when you’re a little kid and you go to some public Easter egg hunt and you run and get kicked by bigger kids and you end up with 3 little eggs and a squashed Peep, and then you realize one of your 3 plastic eggs is empty after you went through all of that!

When you first teleport into the area, you get excited because, hey! Big egg right there! What nice people! How fun to not have to…how…wh… $25L?

Well…that’s not very nice.

And yes, I’m totally wearing my unicorn set from my dear friend Aisuru’s store, Beloved. You can find this set in the lobby at The Starlust for just $75L!! It’s sooo cute, I just adore it!

Oh check it out, another egg! Surely THAT must be the real one!!

No? Another $25L for an empty egg?

Hmm…

Look! ANOTHER egg! That must certainly be THE egg I’ve bothered coming here for!

I’m really getting annoyed now.

If you don’t know to check, you could maybe end up spending $75L before ever finding the egg. With the hunts that go on once in a while that you DO have to pay for [such as the Malt hunt with the $50L gifts that were TOTALLY worth every last $L], you might think you’re getting something. For $75L, I can buy another unicorn set. Did I mention they’re by my friend Aisuru? Of Beloved? And they’re in the lobby of The Starlust? *nudge nudge*

I did eventually find the actual Bunny Hop egg.

The gift is one that I might have liked had I not already been so put off by the decoy eggs. And the fact that…well…I appear to be molesting this poor bear. Hey, I like bears. I don’t like them like THAT.

So congrats, Coull Creations. You made the first “Oh what the hell?” post of the Bunny Hop.

I really have some awesome readers! Yesterday I was standing around and I got a gift!

A pink bear and I can hold it? It’s perfect for me! Thanks Caitlain!!

I have to admit, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday just sitting in the garden holding my new bear. I’ve been in kind of a weepy girl mood lately for some unknown reason. I don’t like being alone for too long in SL, and I am so incredibly lucky that my girls won’t let me be alone for too long. We had a super impromptu party at my fiesta area the other night. They grab me for shopping or other parties or to come see this or that. It keeps me from staring too long at the bottom right hand corner of my screen. lol

One great thing about the girls dragging me off the island so much is that I get all kinds of fabulous pictures for WTFug. LOL Such as this picture from a absolutely horrific bikini contest Sophia unknowingly took us to. Seriously, in her defense, she thought it was just a bikini party that her friend was DJing, not some crazy bikini contest with voting and junk. The girls who entered were…well, they… oh just look.

Booty McTits down walking in front of the stage down there is the one who ended up winning. Oily St.Male came in 3rd. We’ll see Oily again in WTFug in a closer picture.

Candy Moundfuzz grins wickedly as her body moves, moving in a lustful frenzy pace. Her body wanting to feed that sweet agony of teasing. As she lets out a demanding roar, her eyes darkened, like orbs of fire, blazed with that sinful lust. Her hand reaching out, holding that forbidden apple, daring you to take that first bite,to give into your most taboo fantasy and temptation.

Oily St.Male slips her fingers into her bikin straps and pops them against her silky skin [Silky? She was sweating Crisco!]

Booty McTits crwals to the stage

Booty McTits moves hipnotically

Yeah. We were crying with laughter because it was just that damn bad. LOL!! Watch out for Candy’s orbs of fire!! I was also sure that Booty couldn’t get on the stage with the other girls because she slipped on all the oil that Oily was dripping all over and never could get back up there. It’s ok. She made her own little stage in front. Whew, I bet you were worried, huh? And then she went on to win. Way to go, Booty!

It’s wet and cold here in my RL today, which makes me a sad panda. So I think I’ll log into SL and soak up the virtual sunshine.